Football: Bentonville To Focus On Young Players During Spring Workouts

SPECIAL TO NWA MEDIA DAVID J. BEACH Javier Carbonell, center, shown going for a tackle against Springdale High’s Cua Rose during an Oct. 31 game in Tiger Stadium, will be one of several Bentonville returning starters who will see limited practice time during the Tigers’ spring workouts, which start Wednesday.

SPECIAL TO NWA MEDIA DAVID J. BEACH Javier Carbonell, center, shown going for a tackle against Springdale High’s Cua Rose during an Oct. 31 game in Tiger Stadium, will be one of several Bentonville returning starters who will see limited practice time during the Tigers’ spring workouts, which start Wednesday.

Monday, May 12, 2014

BENTONVILLE -- Canaan Ross could become one of the busiest players on Bentonville's football team when the Tigers begin their spring workouts Wednesday afternoon.

Ross, an upcoming sophomore quarterback, will see plenty of action on offense in the early stages, even though Bentonville will return starter Kasey Ford and backup Chase Hunter from last year's state championship team. Both of them will be involved in state tournament action this week -- Ford as a starting pitcher on the baseball team, and Hunter as a starting forward on the boys soccer team.

Bentonville Tigers 2014 Football Schedule

Date^Opponent^Time

Sept. 5^Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst^7:30 p.m.

Sept. 12^at Broken Arrow, Okla.^7:30 p.m.

Sept. 19^Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic^7:30 p.m.

Sept. 26^at Fort Smith Southside*^7:30 p.m.

Oct. 3^Fort Smith Northside*^7:30 p.m.

Oct. 10^at Springdale Har-Ber*^7:30 p.m.

Oct. 17^at Springdale High*^7:30 p.m.

Oct. 24^Rogers High*^7:30 p.m.

Oct. 31^at Rogers Heritage*^7:30 p.m.

Nov. 7^Fayetteville*^7:30 p.m.

* — 7A-West Conference game

That leaves Ross, the starter for Bentonville Gold's ninth-grade team last season who actually dressed out with the Tigers during postseason play, as next in line at quarterback.

"That's one reason we waited as late as did to do this," Bentonville coach Barry Lunney said. "I hope both of them advance, and we have the potential of not having them for a while if that happens.

"We'll just have to do with our sophomore quarterbacks. That's one good thing about running our offense at the freshman level. They will be able to handle our base plays, and they've been in our camps and in our meetings. They'll be fine."

Ross will be among a number of younger players that will get the opportunity to see how well they can fill some of the voids that Bentonville has heading into the fall campaign. Lunney said much of the 10 practice days this spring will be used to see which of those players have a chance to immediately contribute, particularly in the offensive and defensive lines and at receiver and outside linebacker.

That means some of the returning starters -- such as offensive lineman Ean Pfeifer, running backs Dylan Smith and Hekili Keliiliki, defensive lineman Javier Carbonell and inside linebacker Harrison Rooney -- will see limited time during practice. A good portion of their time on the field will be spent serving as additional coaches as they help mentor their younger teammates.

"We know what players like Javier can do," Lunney said. "Those kind of guys aren't going to get a whole lot of reps this spring. There's no sense in it. They've had a lot of reps, and we know how they can play. There are certain guys that are going to be mad for not letting them out there.

"We're going to let them help coach some of these younger guys by example and talking to them. This is a good time to develop players and let them see what they can do. Whoever the linebacker is that takes Harrison Rooney's spot or takes Javier's spot on the defensive line, how are they going to react being in that group? We can tell a lot by being careful how we do this."

Bentonville will conclude its spring workouts May 28, including a spring game scheduled for May 23.

Sports on 05/12/2014